Premium for full lustre?

[Emperor Oli 0]

I've just got eight Farthings through and I'm in the middle of cataloguing them but I am faced by a dilemma - the majority of them are BU full lustre and I don't know what to value them at. Spinks only goes up to UNC and doesn't mention BU let alone full lustre. Can anybody help me out? The coins are listed below if you're interested

1934 BU†

1940 BU†

1941 BU* * = Full lustre

1947 BU* † = Almost full lustre

1952 BU*

1954 BU*

1955 BU*

1956 BU*

[mint_mark 9]

In my copy of Spink, 2001, in the section about grading milled coins (about 2/3 of the way through) it says for UNC ... "retaining full lustre or brilliance"... and as you say there is no BU.

I think for Spink, UNC implies BU and I'm sure there is an explicit note to this effect somewhere in the book, but I can't find it... or maybe it was another book!

[Emperor Oli 0]

Thanks!

[Sylvester 15]

Well i think full lustre coins would sell at a slight premium. Unless of course they were dated 1672 or something and then there'd be one hell of a premium.

But i don't know where you'd find the prices for these.

The USians distinguish between red and brown (the first having lustre, the second without) in their catalogues, about time we followed suit i think.

[Emperor Oli 0]

The USians distinguish between red and brown (the first having lustre, the second without) in their catalogues, about time we followed suit i think.

That's a good idea! Odd abbreviation btw

[william 0]

Just saying 'yanks' works for me!!

[Sylvester 15]

Just saying 'yanks' works for me!!

i'd already typed US and i couldn't be bothered to go back, so i got inventive...

[Guest custard1966]

Spink 2004, page 303 describes UNC as

"... as issued by the Mint, retaining full lustre or brilliance...'

a lot of people seem to overlook this when pricing.

I think that for bronze/copper in particular, where lustre is an important factor it's a big jump from EF to BUNC

John Jerrams book on Early Bun pennies uses

EF, UNC 20% lustre, 50% lustre, 80/100% lustre as pricing points

but I suppose this would be difficult to fit into a general work like Spink.

[Emperor Oli 0]

Hmmm based on this knowledge I think a bit of revising is required for my collection!

[mint_mark 9]

Just for my own peace of mind, I have found the bit I was thinking of! At the end of copper sections, Spink says "Copper coins graded in this catalogue as UNC have full mint lustre". It doesn't say the same for bronze though... maybe it is just assumed?

Anyway, it goes part way to explain why their prices are higher than everyone elses

It gets really subjective for the higher grades... one person's attractive toning is another person's ugly blemish...